As if tired from an active Thursday buffeting golf shots all about, the PGA National Champion Course winds rested Friday. This cleared the way for four course record-tying rounds and two new leaders, one a tired young man who blew in and out of Colombia this week on his way from Phoenix.
Anthony Kim's 6-under-par 64 gave him a piece of the course record and a share of The Honda Classic lead at 8-under with hemisphere-spanning Camilo Villegas (66). Mike Weir, Paul Casey and Stephen Ames also had 64s to tie the course record set by Luke Donald in the first round in 2008 and matched by Greg Chalmers in last year's second round.
Friday's scoring average dropped from Thursday's 72.41 to 71.04.
``I haven't even been thinking about what I'm going to shoot,'' said Kim, who birdied four of his last seven holes. ``I didn't have a goal, a number in mind, but just to hit some quality shots. It's been a long time since I've been able to have confidence and fire at some flags, be able to be aggressive and feel comfortable in that situation.''
Villegas felt comfortable Thursday and Friday, especially having missed the worst of the wind Thursday afternoon and then getting smooth greens Friday morning. He birdied four consecutive holes to get to 9-under before bogeying the tough par-3 7th hole.
As Villegas met with the media, he looked like a man buzzed with fatigue, understandable given his schedule of the previous few weeks. In addition to playing PGA Tour events, he hosted the first Nationwide Tour event in his native Colombia this week.
``We can even go back all the way to [WGC-Accenture] Match Play, which is obviously a long week,'' Villegas said. ``Then, Phoenix. Finished Phoenix on Sunday. Flew Monday Phoenix-Miami, Miami-Bogota. I got there at night for dinner, woke up the next morning, had a couple of interviews at 7 a.m., then breakfast at 8 with some sponsors, then press conference at 9:30.
``I did a clinic at 11 with some kids, played the pro-am, and then dinner and a party for the event,'' he continued. ``Yeah, I was in bed about 1 a.m. that night. Got up at 6 [Wednesday], got on a plane and came here.''
One shot behind Kim and Villegas is Vijay Singh. As first-round leader Nathan Green's short game and putter refused to behave, Singh surged behind long drives that regularly bisected the fairways, beautifully accurate approaches and consistent putting. Bogeys at No. 4 and No. 6, both par-4s, were trumped by six birdies in the last 12 holes after Singh's caddie scolded him to ``just play the shot,'' he said.
``I was overthinking, trying to overanalyze my putts,'' Singh said. ``From then on, I said, `Just stand and hit it.' ''
He was still miffed over blowing a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 16 -- Singh was so shocked at the miss, he remained frozen in the putting position for a couple of seconds -- when he drained a 64-foot putt to birdie the 17th. As the considerable gallery roared, Singh did a full visor doff, acknowledging this wasn't a normal birdie.
``I was just trying to get close,'' he said. ``My goal was to get inside Nathan Green. It had a good line. It wasn't going to break too much, and I hit a good putt. The pace was good and it looked good all the way, but I didn't want to jump up and down until it went in.''
Graeme McDowell would be tied with Singh, but he caught the water on his backswing as he hit it out of a pond on the 18th. After making an impressive par, McDowell quickly noted that he might have committed a violation. Seeing a replay TV confirmed it. Instead of a par and 65, he had a double bogey and 67.
``Right before I took the club head away, I felt like I had just caught a tiny drop of water that made my backswing,'' McDowell said. ``I wasn't 100 percent sure of the ruling, but I was pretty confident that it was going to be a penalty of some description. It's a disappointing way to end the day but, hey, it could be worse. It could be Sunday. I've got all weekend to repair the damage.''
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